1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to systems and methods for retrievably storing the results of an age calculation or other authorization determination.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many situations exist in which a merchant or other businessperson is legally obligated to control the sale of certain goods or services by ensuring that customers meet a minimum age limit or are otherwise authorized to purchase the good or service. For example, clerks typically verify the age of customers who wish to purchase alcohol or tobacco products. Other products, such as fireworks, firearms, lottery tickets, adult-content literature, and other products, may also be age-controlled. In addition, merchants may be legally required to restrict the age of customers in other situations, such as at the entrance to a bar, casino, adult-entertainment establishment, or age-controlled movie. In many jurisdictions, merchants who do not fulfill their legal obligations to restrict access to age-controlled goods and services may be subject to fines, the loss of their license to do business, or other penalties.
However, in many situations where an authorization check may be indicated for some transactions, other transactions occur for which no check of authorization is needed. Furthermore, one transaction may comprise items with varying authorization thresholds. For example, a desired rental at a video rental store may comprise three movies, each associated with a different age-related authorization threshold, depending on the rating assigned to the movie. Similarly, grocery stores that sell alcohol and tobacco products, which can be associated with various age threshold restrictions, typically also sell other products that are not associated with any minimum age threshold.
Performing an authorization check that complies with legal and other requirements entails knowing a correct authorization threshold for a transaction that comprises one or more items, each of which may individually be associated with a different authorization threshold. In some current systems, determination of a correct authorization threshold for a transaction that comprises items associated with one or more individual authorization thresholds is carried out mentally by a clerk associated with the transaction. In such situations, correct determination of an appropriate authorization threshold can be subject to inaccuracies caused at least in part by stresses inherent in a point of sale setting as well as by lack of skill or care exercised by the clerk.
Furthermore, current systems that determine authorization, such as an authorization based on age, at a point of access control to a restricted item typically do not provide documentation of the age calculation or other authorization check associated with a given transaction, although such documentation could become very useful if a business establishment is accused of failing to comply with authorization regulations. For example, consider the situation in which an eighteen-year old customer uses false identification to purchase several items, including cigarettes and alcohol, and is subsequently apprehended by the law. If the customer prefers not to surrender the false identification used, but to claim instead that his or her true identification card was deemed by the clerk to be sufficient for the purchase, the merchant may be accused of selling the alcohol illegally. Without a record of the transaction and the associated identification check, the merchant may have difficulty establishing his or her compliance with the law.
Other forms of authorization requirements unrelated to age may also be mandated by law at a point of sale or other point of control for access to a product, a service, a location, an event, or the like. For example, in some jurisdictions, felons may be restricted from purchasing firearms. Additionally, even if age-checking or other authorization is not mandated by law, some products and situations exist for which a merchant may voluntarily wish to verify that customers' authorization has been checked, such as for insurance or other internal management purposes.
Hence, it will be appreciated from the foregoing that there is a need for authorization verification systems and methods that determine an authorization threshold that will authorize access to the items of a transaction. There is a further need for authorization verifications systems and methods that provide a retrievable record of the fact that a point-of-access-control authorization determination was performed for transactions requiring age-based or other types of authorization.